Apostles Creed: Deist Opinion

On why I left the Christian faiths and am now a Deist, (see my "Losing My Religion" essay) I'll Start with my comments on the Apostle's Creed. This is estimated to have been written less than 100 years after Jesus' death, a fundamental document for most Christian religions since their beginning:

1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

As a Deist, I belive in a Creator, someone who "got the ball rolling" in creating the universe. I also believe in evolution. I don't believe God created the world in seven days, but considereing how long ago the Bible was written, I think the writers did a pretty good job of getting the creation idea across.

2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:

I believe Christ was a great man, who had many teachings for how to lead a good life. Son of God? I would say yes, in as much as all creatures are children of the Creator.

3. Who was conceived by the Holy Spiritt, born of the Virgin Mary:

The "Virgin Birth" is pure myth, in my opinion. An idea that was added to the church's teachings years after Christ's death, according to many historians.

4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died and was buried:

Yes, this seems to be documented well enough to be fact. As for the reason for this,"He died for our sins", I don't buy any of it. Why would a "Supreme Being" need to send part of himself (his son) down to earth to be tortured and killed as a sacrifice to himself so that we, part of his creation, could be saved from "Original Sin"? This idea that we are all "born bad" and need to be saved because Adam & Eve ate the "forbidden fruit" from the tree in Eden? Why did God put that tree there to begin with? And if they never ate the fruit, Adam & Eve would still be hanging around the Garden, living eternally in bliss, and none of us would have ever been born anyway. Either way we're screwed on this one. Seems like God's got a sick sense of humor to me. (apologies to Depeche Mode) Sorry, I don't buy it.

5. He descended into Hell, The third day he rose again from the dead:

I don't believe it. Jesus was a man who died and found out what happens next, like all who die.

6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:

Maybe, but I'm still not convinced that there is a heaven. What happens after we die, if anything, is probably gonna be something totally different than anything we expect. At least that's my opinion. (If I'm wrong, I guess "the old man with the beard" will send me to hell for not believing.)

7. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead:

I don't believe in hell, other than the one we humans seem to be bent on creating for each other here on earth, (War, physical & sexual abuse, exploitation of the poor, etc.). So by extension, I don't see a need for anyone judging us after we're dead, least of all the Creator. What kind of sick pleasure could a Supreme being powerful enough to create the universe get out of roasting creatures he created over an endless fire after they're dead to punish them for their "sins"?
When discussing this with religious people, they've said things like "Well, I guess if you think you won't be punished when you die, you can do whatever you want now?" No, I believe in being good for it's own sake. It promotes harmony with the environment I share with all of God's creation. Besides, If I do bad things ("sins") it'll come back and bite me anyway. If I drink & gamble to excess, I'll end up broke & sick. If I rob a bank, I'll get thrown in jail or shot by the cops. If I screw around on my wife, she'll cut my balls off (she's Italian).

8. I believe in the Holy Spirit:

I belive the "Spirit of the Creator", and that it is in Nature, all of creation, his gift to us. Unfortunately I think man has treated this gift very poorly, as of late. (And the environmental destruction sanctioned by our current "God loving" administration for the sake of corporate profits sickens me.)

9. I believe in the holy catholic church:

Nope, not anymore. Nor the whole "churches as houses of worship" idea either. Why would the Creator need us to "worship" him? Seems kinda primitive, going back to the days when peasants "worshipped" kings and rulers. I look at the Creator as somone who gave us the greatest gifts, our lives and free will. I would look at it the same way as if he were the owner of a corporation that was a great place to work, and I was lucky enough to get a job there. I would thank him for hiring me if I met him in person, but I would not "worship" him. (Or pray to him for forgiveness if I stole office supplies or screwed around with my secretary.)

10: The communion of saints:

Communion as in the fellowship definition, yes. I think Jesus kinda knew the Romans were gonna get him sooner or later for his preaching and rabble rousing, so he sat down and had a good meal and some wine with his buddies and said "After I'm gone, remember me when you're all together having a good meal." You know, the "Raise a toast to me after I'm gone," kinda thing. The whole "transforming the bread and wine into body and blood" ritual seems kinda barbaric to me, a mystical thing to scare the peasants into believing.
As for praying to the Saints in Heaven for help, I don't buy that either. Or praying to God himself for intercession in our worldly problems, or forgiveness for offending him. How could we possibly do anything to offend the Creator of the Universe? (It would be like me taking offense at an ant who took a grain of sugar from my table, and expecting the ant to beg me for forgiveness.) No, I think the creator gave us life, our own free will, the natural world to live in, with all it's good and bad. What happens to us is partially random, partially of our own doing. We can choose to act foolishly and hasten our own demise. Acting wisely will not guarantee we will live to grow old, but it will increase the odds. (But if through the luck of the draw you happen to be born in a war torn poverty stricken third world country, you're screwed anyway.)

11. The forgiveness of sins:

"Sin and Redemption". I think this idea was cooked up, along with the whole idea of the poor getting their reward in the afterlife, to keep the masses in line. We pay our own wages of sin here on earth, in my opinion. (see line 7)

12. The resurrection of the body:

No, I don't buy this one. Sounds like zombies to me. Once you leave your body it crumbles, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust".

13. And the life everlasting.

I'm still in between on this one (see line 6). And if what comes next is nothing at all, I can handle that too. Here's a line from Iris Dement's "Let the Mystery Be" that pretty much sums it up for me:
"Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from.
Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done.
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me.
I think I'll just let the mystery be..."

14. Amen.

So be it. The teachings, and my opinions thereof. Your comments and criticisms are welcome, as long as they are logical.